LECA Philosophy on Leadership

Becoming a great leader doesn’t happen by accident.

Leadership vs. Management

We at Leader’s Edge CA are often asked why we speak in terms of “leadership” rather than in terms of “management”. This is primarily because we consider management to be only one manifestation of leadership. In brief, all managers should be leaders, but not everyone who leads is a manager. The differences between these concepts are subtle, yet important. In his book, On Becoming a Leader, Warren G. Bennis differentiates leadership and management as follows:

Leader

Manager

Innovates

Administers

Is an original

Is a copy

Develops

Maintains

Focuses on people

Focuses on systems and structures

Inspires trust

Relies on control

Has a long-range perspective

Has a short-range view

Asks why

Asks how and when

Has his [or her] eye on the horizon

Has his [or her] eye on the bottom line

Originates

Imitates

Challenges the status quo

Accepts the status quo

Whether you agree with Mr. Bennis or not, his list of differentiators certainly provides food for thought. We, at Leader’s Edge CA, tend to use these terms within the context of the following definitions:

Leadership is influencing and encouraging a group of followers to collectively achieve common goals, and work towards reaching their full potential both individually and as a group.

SOURCE: Yvonne T. Ryan, Techies on the Rise

Management is the organization and coordination of the activities of a business in order to achieve defined objectives. Classically, Management consists of the interlocking functions of creating corporate policy and organizing, planning, controlling, and directing an organization’s resources in order to achieve the objectives of that policy.

In our experience, technical people do not respond well to the “command and control” tactics of “classic” management; they respond much better to more collaborative and creative approaches. That is, they prefer to follow a leader, who values their input and involves them in the process, rather than being solely directed by the classic manager. Therefore, as we try to provide you with the best advice and guidance as to how to develop into an exceptional leader, we ask you to keep the following in mind.

Consideration #1

The majority of middle managers and team leaders in most technical organizations are, themselves, technical people. Since it is a common practice to promote experienced technical people to lead and manage other technical people, this is hardly surprising. In some lucky cases, the individuals who assume these leadership roles are “natural leaders”, but most are not.

Whatever an individual’s native abilities are, experience has shown that effective leaders (whether they be technical or administrative) are those who:

All of these characteristics are based on learned skills that take time, conscious effort, and practice.

Consideration #2

It is also important to note that technical professionals (engineers, scientists, and technicians) tend to push their leaders beyond the confines of conventional, accepted management wisdom and practice. By the very nature of their work, technical people often require “special handling.” In order for a technical leader or manager to be successful, she or he must have a clear understanding of the culture within which a technical group functions in addition to what makes technical professionals “tick.”

Consideration #3

Leading technical people is not the sole purview of management. Leadership is required in two distinct areas:

Many technical managers are asked to tackle both of these areas simultaneously with little or no preparation and very little support. In such cases, whether or not they are successful leaders in both areas often becomes a matter of serendipity rather than design.

Contrary to popular belief among non-technical people and some executive managers, the administrative manager of a group is not always the technical leader of the group. The technical leader of a group is usually the person who: 1) has in-depth knowledge pertaining to the focus area of the group’s work, and 2) is willing to share that knowledge. If that person also happens to have good people and organizational skills, she or he has a much better chance of bringing a project to a successful conclusion.

Consideration #4

When given the choice, technical people move into administrative leadership (management) roles for a variety of reasons: a unique expertise, seniority, career opportunity (next step on the promotion ladder), and/or a desire to control the design and direction of company products or services — just to name a few. However, regardless of the type of leadership required, or the reasons technical professionals choose to move into leadership roles, the question remains:

How prepared are technical professionals to assume the roles and responsibilities
of technical managers or team leaders?

Sadly, many technical degree and certification programs fail to include instruction in numerous areas that are essential to leader survival in today’s business environment. For example,

Leadership

Communication Skills

Team Development

Project/Program Management

Product Development and Lifecycle

Process and Organizational Development

People Coordination

Change Management

Conflict Management

It has been left to the business schools to provide such instruction to those starting out on the management track. Unfortunately, this educational strategy generally produces…

technical people with few management or people skills; and

business people with few technical skills and little understanding of the special needs associated with technical people and their environments.

Technical organizations require leaders and managers who, to varying degrees, excel in both technical understanding and modern leadership skills (communication, coordination, and people skills).